


Life on the Ranch

by LondonTank



Series: One Shots [12]
Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kinda Fluffy, basically your life at the Ranch, not sugary sweet tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 15:29:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11443761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LondonTank/pseuds/LondonTank
Summary: You remember hearing someone say something to you, but for the life of you you couldn't understand what it was; the sun had been beating down on you all day as you had walked in search of water, barely resting for more than a few minutes every few hours so as not to get ambushed by the dead. You remembered looking at a young man with striking blue eyes, then the world seemed to tilt and everything went dark.





	Life on the Ranch

Weeks ago, maybe months at this point, when all this started, you never could've imagined just how fucked up your life was about to become. At the beginning of this you had friends, you had a family... now there was just you, surviving for no other reason than it being second nature at this point. There were many times during those nights alone that you would contemplate ending it then and there, but you knew the people that had cared about you would want you to continue on for as long as you could, so you stayed your hand and kept searching for the sign of someplace safe... someplace that might grow to feel like home after a while.

The days passed in the same steady rhythm, walking for hours in search of food and water before finding a place to sleep for the night, though you honestly couldn't remember the last time you had slept through the _whole_ night, most of the time you just dozed for a few hours and woke up at the smallest sound, usually made by an animal. You remembered thinking that if you didn't find some place to stay you'd end up dying of sleep deprivation, though as the days went on those worries soon turned to the fear of dying of dehydration or malnutrition; you were sure the combination of these things also wasn't helping you much.

It had been when you were walking through a forest one day, trying to find some sort of water source so you could replenish what little water you had left; you tried to ration your drinks to as little a day as possible, and still you were running out well before you could get more. You could've sworn that at one moment you were alone, the next faced with about half a dozen men in fatigues and with what you guessed were machine guns, though you didn't really know enough about them to be certain.

You remember hearing someone say something to you, but for the life of you you couldn't understand what it was; the sun had been beating down on you all day as you had walked your search, barely resting for more than a few minutes every few hours so as not to get ambushed by the dead. You remembered looking at a young man with striking blue eyes, then the world seemed to tilt and everything went dark.

 

* * *

 

You awoke a few hours later on what you would later learn was called "The Ranch", the military men had been from there so they brought you back in the hopes that their doctor would be able to do something to help you; somewhat luckily for you your biggest problem was dehydration, so once they pumped you full of fluids you felt almost normal again... or at least what would pass for normal in this new world.

The first time you woke up you were still pretty out of it, you could remember an old man introducing himself to you and talking about the Ranch and rules of some sort, but before too long you were pulled back into unconsciousness.

The second time you woke up you were slightly more alert, for the first time in days it felt like you had slept for more than a few hours, and you found yourself greeted by a young man who introduced himself as Jake; he explained that he was Jeremiah's son (you quickly learned that was the man who had talked to you earlier) and that if you were willing to contribute you would be welcome to stay at The Ranch for as long as you liked. You sat there silently during all of this, still not trusting yourself to speak around someone after all of your time alone, you were worried you would say the wrong thing and get thrown out, despite the fact that he was stating the direct opposite of that. He left soon after he finished his explanation, saying he'd give you time to think things over, something you were immediately grateful for; you could already feel your eyelids drooping as your head thudded back down onto the pillow, barely having time to close your eyes before you were out like a light.

The third time you woke up was the first time you actually felt _awake_ , remembering the past few days as if they were out of a dream, the images flashing through your mind too nonsensical and disjointed to feel real; you realized that your state of health must have been much worse than you had originally thought, you were sure that if you had been out there for much longer you would've died. This time you awoke to the man you had originally seen in the forest, he was leaning up against the wall, studying you in silence as you did the same to him.

"Took you long enough to wake up," he said bluntly, though you were positive you could see the ghost of a smirk on his face, as if he was seeing how you'd react to him.

"Well, _sorry_ ," you replied, "The lack of food and water for the past few days has made me somewhat sleepy."

"You've been sleeping for about a day," he continued on, seemingly ignoring your reply, "The doctor said you should be fine to get up and around if you're feeling up to it."

You slowly moved to stand beside the bed, groaning as you stretched out your stiff muscles and joints from the hours you had spent int he same position. You noticed movement out of the corner of your eye and turned to see your reflection, your mouth falling open in shock as you took in the scars that now littered your body, the dark circles that were under your eyes, the weight you had lost from lack of food, and the muscle you had gained from fighting the dead on a daily basis; you moved your hand up to touch your face, letting out a breath at how you could barely recognize your own reflection in a mirror.

"Something wrong?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow at you.

"No I- I just haven't seen myself in a while..." you turned to look at him then, "I look different."

The man stood there silently for a few moments, probably unsure of how to respond to that, you were content in the silence though, for some reason you felt comfortable with him, though there was no particular reason as to why you felt that way.

"How long were you out there?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant, though you could hear the true curiosity in his voice.

"Alone? A few weeks maybe, maybe more, maybe less... time doesn't really mean anything when every day is potentially your last," you paused, hesitating before continuing, "I was originally with my family but they- they're gone now." You breathed slowly to try and calm you heart rate, wiping away the stray tears that fell as you thought of your parents and your brother, you closed your eyes and willed the images of their last moments to stay out of your head but it felt like you were reliving it all over again, never really grieving after they were gone since you had had to keep moving... always keep moving.

"I'm sorry," the man said, meeting your gaze as he looked at you with a mixture of pity and curiosity, "No one should have to go through that."

"Yeah well, no one  _should_  be coming back from the dead and eating other people's faces off, so I think that ship sailed a long fucking time ago," you muttered, scowling for no reason other than the almost constant feeling of anger you carried with you, but you were startled out of it when the man barked out a laugh at your words.

"Fair enough," he said, grinning at you in earnest now, it was so infectious you couldn't help but smile back at him, a light blush tinting your cheeks as you noticed just how attractive he really was.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember your name," you said, tilting your head slightly as you thought back only to come up with nothing.

"I'm Troy," he said, "And don't be sorry, You can't remember what I never told you."

"Troy," you reached out to shake his hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm (y/n)."

 

* * *

 

Slowly you met the rest of the people on the Ranch, starting with the rest of the Founders and working your way down the totem pole; you were surprised that Jake was generally the one introducing you to people, you learned that Troy was Jeremiah's other son and figured he'd also take part in it. You found that most of the people were pretty welcoming, with only a few being wary of the new stranger that they had taken in (which, to be honest, you totally understood). After you were sure you had finally met everyone Jake told you that there was just one more family left, the group that had shown up not to long before you did.

You met Alicia first, quickly discovering that the two of you would have been friends if you had met before the world went to shit; you were happy you could talk to someone around your age for the first time in what felt like forever. Nick was second, Alicia introduced you to him during lunch one day and you found out that he had had a woman with him, your heart broke when you found out she had left him, wondering if you would ever be able to choose between your family and the love of your life; when Alicia went to return the dishes you told Nick you were always there if he needed to talk to someone he wasn't related to, and you thought you saw him smile. Lastly you met Madison, Alicia and Nick invited you to sit with them during dinner so that you could meet their mother; your heart swelled up when she said you were always welcome in her home, amazed that these people would accept you into their lives so easily. You watched them interact with each other and your vision started to blur, looking away from them as they reminded you of your own mom and brother; it was then that you saw Troy for the first time since you had first woken up, sitting on his own a few tables away. You must have been staring for longer than you thought, because Madison soon noticed.

"You know Troy?" she asked.

"Not really," you replied, "He was there when I woke up, and he found me in the forest."

"Stay the fuck away from him," Nick bit out, glaring at Troy before looking down at his plate.

"Why?" you asked, your brow furrowing at the anger that seemed to be radiating off of Nick; sure you didn't know Troy very well, but you didn't know what he could've possibly done to inspire such hatred, Troy had seemed fine to you.

"We met him at an army base," Alicia explained, "He was murdering people and timing them to see how long it would take them to turn... he said he was doing it for science but I'm pretty sure he's just a nutcase."

You looked back over at him to see him looking at you, once again you found that you couldn't look away from him, his eyes pulling you in as you struggled to view him as a monster, but you honestly couldn't imagine him doing anything like that, he didn't seem sadistic he just seemed... broken.

"Just be careful, sweetie," Madison said, reaching out to grab your hand, "None of us want anything bad to happen to you." You smiled at her actions, promising that you'd be safe so you could put their minds at ease, though a small voice in the back of your head questioned just how long you were really going to listen to them.

 

* * *

 

You were always up before everyone else, your time barely sleeping during your time alone making it seemingly impossible for you to sleep more than a few hours each night; usually you stayed in your house, reading whatever you could find or getting a head start on chores you needed to do that day, but today you had decided to venture outside and explore before everyone else woke up, you enjoyed The Ranch, but the constant staring and questions you were asked about the outside world had started to get grating.

You stepped outside your door and took a deep breath, cocking your head when you heard gunshots going off in the distance; the shots were too consistent for it to be some sort of fire fight, so you wandered towards the noise to find that The Ranch also had a makeshift gun range for people to practise, the person in question being none other than Troy.

You watched him aim at target after target, never missing as he went from one to the other; you took some time to admire him in earnest, the morning sun making him look otherworldly as he practised with an intense gaze you wanted to be on the other end of. After a few minutes you moved closer to him, covering your ears as you drew nearer; you stopped slightly back from him so he would hopefully notice you on his own, you doubted he'd even be able to hear you with his earmuffs on.

He must've noticed something however, because he quickly turned his head to look at you, tensing up slightly before realizing who you were; he took the earmuffs off and lowered his weapon as you took a couple more steps in his direction.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning," you replied.

"Why're you up so early?" he asked, taking a step towards you as he did so.

"Why're you?" you countered, a slight blush once again adorning your cheeks as he got closer.

"It's the only time I can practise alone," he replied, shrugging as if it was the obvious answer.

"Oh, did you want me to leave then?" you asked, turning slightly as if you were about to walk off.

"No! That's not what I- sorry that's not what I meant, it's just that most people here don't want to be here when I'm here, and we need to train everyone so..." he trailed off at that, obviously hurt about the way people treated him, though remembering what the Clarks told you you weren't exactly surprised.

"Well I believe that tends to happen when people find out someone's hobby is murder," you blurted out, not even thinking before you spoke; you froze and looked at him with wide eyes, hoping that he wouldn't tell you to get lost for your comment.

"You know about that?" he asked, his brow furrowing.

"Word travels fast around here," you replied, "It's like a small town soap opera."

"Then why the hell are you here?" he asked, "Why would you even risk being alone with me?" You stared at him as he looked down at the ground, you also noticed that he took a couple steps away from you, almost as if he was worried anything he did was going to scare you off; his face turned into a neutral mask so you couldn't tell what he was thinking, you had noticed he did that a lot around the Ranch, especially around his dad. You took a few steps forward until you were directly in front of him, barely a foot between the two of you; you reached up to run your fingers through his hair, Troy's eyes closing at the sensation, leaning into your touch involuntarily.

"Because I'm stupid enough to believe that everyone is inherently good, that no one is totally beyond redemption," you whispered, "And because I don't believe you're a bad person, Troy. I just can't accept that the man who saved my life has no good in him whatsoever."

Troy looked at you in admiration, though you could tell he wasn't expecting that since he didn't have a clever retort for once, something you were somewhat happy about. You stayed like that for what felt like hours, both of you revelling in the other's presence, just happy to be there with each other; you both jumped as a crow cawed overhead, backing away slightly at the shift in mood. You didn't want to leave him, but you couldn't think of anything else to say, eventually going with the first idea that popped into your head.

"Teach me to shoot?" you asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Troy smirked and nodded, motioning for you to move up to where he had been shooting from a few moments earlier.

"So you hold it like this," he moved your arms and hands until they were all in the correct positions, his touch sending electrical currents through you as you struggled to focus on what he was saying, "And then you just pull the trigger, the rest is history." You took a deep breath to steady yourself, breathing out as you looked down the barrel of the gun to find your target, letting out a whoop of joy as you pulled the trigger and hit your target dead on. "Look at that, you're a natural," Troy murmured, suddenly reminding you just how close he was; you lowered the gun and put on the safety, slowly turning around until you were looking up into Troy's eyes, he hadn't moved away at all so he was hovering above you, his eyes briefly glancing at your lips before snapping back up to meet your gaze.

"Maybe I just have a good teacher," you replied, flicking your gaze from his eyes to his lips.

"Hey, Troy!" you both jumped at the sound of Jake calling out for his brother, you both took a step back before Jake came into view; you weren't sure if you didn't want Jake to know or not... would it be bad if people knew you were hanging out with Troy? The social pariah?

"Hey, Jake," Troy replied, "What's up?"

"Dad wants to see you," he said, glancing at you briefly before saying, "And Madison was actually looking for _you_ , (y/n). I never thought to look for you here..." The unasked question lingered in the air, _What are you doing out here with him (y/n)?_ You stared Jake dead in the eye, not backing down at the worry in his eyes, you knew what you were potentially getting yourself into, you knew what he'd done.

"I was already up so I figured I'd explore a little bit, and Troy here was nice enough to show me how to shoot, I figured if I'm going to stay here I should be trained like the rest of you don't you think?" you raised and eyebrow at Jake, as if you were daring him to say something to you.

"Well, how about you come by later? I can show you a few things, or Madison usually comes by around-"

"I think I'm fine, thanks," you interrupted, glancing at Troy before continuing, "Troy's a good teacher."

Jake opened his mouth as if to say something, but quickly shut it, you were sure he was just concerned about you but you were really starting to get annoyed with the way everyone had been treating you, like you were some sick, delicate flower that needed to be protected, sure they had found you on your worst day but you had survived on your own out there for longer than any of them had, what gave them any right to judge?

"Thanks for the lesson, Troy," you handed the gun back to him, "I think I'll go find Madison and see what she needed, same time tomorrow?" You smiled at him slightly, trying to convey without words that you hoped he'd say yes, that you were hoping he'd want you there; you were pleased to find the corners of his mouth turn up slightly even through his mask, he wanted to spend time with you too.

"Sure, tomorrow," he replied, you nodded at him and flashed him a smile before turning on your heel and going to find Madison.

 

* * *

 

"You were with Troy? _Alone?"_ you weren't surprised that Nick and Alicia had found out so quickly, if everyone knew Troy's business you expected that everyone would know yours too, however the news that you had been spending time with The Ranch's resident "psycho" every morning made the staring even worse than it was initially, did no one have anything else going on in their lives?

"Yes Nick, alone. Why?" you asked, a bit of bite making it's way into your words as your frustration grew.

"Hmm... let me think, maybe because he's a sadistic fuck who took pleasure in other people's deaths?" he asked, glaring at you from across the table. Madison sat next to him, and Alicia was sitting on your left; you found you liked to sit at their table not only for the company, but for the way you could easily see Troy from where he sat every meal a few tables away.

"Keep your voice down, Nick," you hissed, looking over at Troy quickly to see that he was once again looking at you; you quickly looked away so no one else could notice, but you were certain that now he was paying attention. 

"Why?" he asked, his voice rising in volume, "So people won't have to hear that they're living with a monster? Newsflash (y/n), everyone already knows, the only person who seems to be devoid of common sense is you."

You closed your eyes and grit your teeth, trying your hardest not to blurt out anything too dangerous; you still felt like you were a guest amongst everyone and you were sure with the way they regarded Troy... well, the less they knew about your past the better.

"What, did you have a bad boy fetish before the world fell? Is he just your latest project? Someone you can try to "fix" and make a good person?" Nick continued, getting more and more worked up as he continued, "Or do you want some semblance of danger in your life now that you're safe from-"

"Shut up," you interrupted, stabbing a potato with your fork with a little more force than necessary.

"What did you-"

"I said shut up, Nick," you interrupted again, glaring at him with such ferocity that his mouth actually snapped shut, "You don't know a damn thing about me, so stop making assumptions and pretending like you do."

"I just don't get why someone like you would even bother with someone like-"

"Like him? Maybe because we aren't that fucking different, Nick," you took a deep breath to try and calm yourself, the memories of everything you had to do to survive coming back in a wave.

"What do you mean, (y/n)?" Madison asked, her voice noticeably softer than Nick's in an attempt to get you to relax.

"It's nothing, never mind," you muttered, turning your attention back to your food.

"No, it's obviously something," Nick pushed, "What the hell do you mean you aren't that different? Were you messed up enough to kill innocent people-"

"Yes," you said.

"What?" Nick asked, falling silent at your admission.

"Yes, I did," you replied, "I killed anyone and everyone I had to," you bit out, something inside of you finally snapping, "You want to know about life outside when you're alone as a girl? Everything and every _one_ is a threat. You don't understand, you can't, you're a guy and you two were always in a group of some sort so if you met another group you still had people you could rely on and trust. I was alone. Can you imagine that? Being out there with only yourself to rely on? Never knowing if a group is going to want to help you, rape you, or kill you?" you could hear your voice rising as you went on but you couldn't bring yourself to care, tears falling down in a steady stream as you went on, "I can't say I didn't kill any innocent people because I don't know for sure. Every time I came across a new group? I killed them. Every. Single. Group. I didn't start out that way, I tried to find places to stay by myself and gave strangers the benefit of the doubt, but each time I did I almost got myself killed. I've killed men, I've killed women, hell I'm pretty sure I've killed people about my age as well, so don't you sit there and talk down to me about who I spend my time with because you haven't clued in to the biggest revelation of this new world. Everyone in this life is either a monster, or dead, and I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

You didn't wait for a response as you gathered your things, freezing when you noticed that the dining area had fallen silent at your outburst; exactly what you had been afraid of happening happened, the only people who weren't looking at you in horror were Madison and Troy, Madison looking at you in pity while Troy's expression was unreadable. You realized you must look insane, your face red in anger with tear tracks streaking your face from the emotions that had swelled up during you rant, you turned around to look at everyone, anger building up inside of you again at the judgment you saw on their faces.

"Enjoy the show?" you asked, raising your voice so it would carry across the tables, "Are you happy to view yourselves so much higher above me? The fact that _you've_ been spared having to take someone's life in order to make it through the day?" you made sure to look at each and every one of them in the eye, happy that at least some of them looked sheepish at being called out, "I did what I had to. None of you have any right to judge, not when you've been able to sit here and enjoy three meals of the day between the jobs you have to do, _jobs!_ Like nothing really happened beyond the fence that surrounds this place! You don't know what it's like to be bone tired, to be hungry, you only know what it's like to have no internet connection. I make no apologies for my actions, not when they're the reason I'm able to stand in front of you today."

And before anyone could do anything else you marched off, leaving The Ranch in a silence that lasted the rest of the meal.

 

* * *

 

You didn't have a particular destination in mind when you and stormed off, running on autopilot as a million different thoughts and emotions flashed through your mind; you couldn't believe that everyone here was so clueless, that they had escaped the horrors of the world so easily when countless others had suffered on their own just trying to find the will to survive. Somehow you ended up at the gun range, your fingers twitching to shoot something even though you'd only used a gun a handful of times in your life, you cursed when you realized you had nothing to shoot with and couldn't take it anymore; you crumpled to the ground and screamed as you fully felt all the pain you had been pushing down for weeks.

You sobbed until your eyes were dry and no sound came out, your arms hugging yourself as you rocked back and forth unconsciously; you heard movement to your right and your head shot up to be greeted by Troy, looking as if he wanted to move closer but unsure if it would be okay to do so.

"Hi," you choked out, wiping at your face and trying to slow your racing heartbeat.

"Hi," Troy replied, "Are you okay?"

"Just peachy," you could hear the hollowness in your voice and knew that he'd see right through it, if your current state wasn't enough to indicate that something was wrong.

You heard the grass shift as Troy walked over and sat down next to you, waiting for you to speak when you were ready; you didn't know how he knew you needed to talk about it, though you guessed he may have been in the opposite position with his brother, listening to him speak about what his dad did this time.

"My mother was the first to go," you heard yourself say, your voice and expression numb as silent tears steadily streamed down your face, "We were looking for supplies in a supermarket when the dead came, I don't know how we didn't hear them... we were always so careful so that- we had to leave her or we all would've been killed. She sacrificed herself so that we could get away..." you trailed off, clearing your throat before continuing, "The three of us, my father, brother and me, we lasted for a couple weeks, moving from place to place in the hopes that there'd eventually be somewhere safe to stay... but one day my father got sick, really sick. We didn't know until it was too late but he had been scratched by the dead during a fight earlier that day, by nightfall the fever had taken over, by morning he was gone."

You closed your eyes and felt Troy grab your hand, squeezing gently as if to comfort you, you turned your hand so you could hold his as you hurried to finish telling him everything that was eating you up inside.

"My brother and I lasted for weeks after that, maybe a month and a half give or take, we met up with a group of guys that seemed nice, they were about our age so we felt like we could trust them, like we had finally found someplace safe after everything we went through... but they- they weren't who we thought they were. They-" you couldn't bring yourself to continue as you remembered the fear of that night, flinching when Troy moved to put his arm around you and pull you against his chest; you grabbed onto him and sobbed, fresh tears coming to your eyes even though you could've sworn you had been fresh out.

"T-they used the girls they found as playthings, they tied them up and kept them in the basement so that they could use them whenever they wanted, they accepted the men that wanted to join them but the ones that refused they- they killed them so they couldn't try to help the girls," your grip on Troy tightened, "My brother found out and tried  to escape with me before it was too late but- but they shot him as we were running. We made it to a vehicle and got away but, there was nothing I could do to save him. He died within minutes."

The last of your tears fell as you finally felt the weight you had been carrying around be lifted off of your shoulders, slowly relaxing into Troy's embrace as he rubbed circles in your arm with his thumb. You closed your eyes as a sudden wave of exhaustion took over, your breathing evening out the longer you stayed in his arms.

You weren't sure how long he held you, there were multiple times when you thought you were fine when images of your family would flash to the forefront of your mind and you would start sobbing all over again, Troy holding you and whispering sweet nothings into your ear the entire time; eventually you reached a point where you felt as if there were no tears left for you to cry, instead staying in Troy's arms because you wanted to, not because you needed to. His slow, steady breaths were soothing enough to make your eyes start to droop, your body going slack as you felt yourself start to nod off.

"Don't you go sleeping on me," Troy murmured, "Your neck'll be fucked up for days."

"But you're so comfy," you groaned, smiling when you felt him chuckle slightly at your words.

"That said, we should still probably get up," he replied, you nodded and sat up slightly, though not far enough away for his arm to drop from your shoulders. You stayed that way for a few minutes, both of you sitting and looking out at the field in silence, neither of you wanting to disturb the peace that had settled between the two of you.

"Thank you," you whispered.

"What for?" he asked, looking down at you.

You looked up at him and gave a small smile, "For sitting, for listening. For not looking at me like I'm a-"

"Monster?" he finished, "I think that'd make me a hypocrite wouldn't you say?"

You laughed at that earning a grin from him, his eyes shining in mirth as you both dissolved into giggles; you couldn't remember the last time you'd felt so light, like the world hadn't ended and everything was somehow okay. Slowly you both grew serious, the proximity between the two of you decreasing as Troy slowly leaned down towards you, giving you enough time to back away if this wasn't what you wanted. His lips met yours and it was like a spark was lit between the two of you, your hands coming up to cup his face as he moved the two of you so you were lying on the grass beneath him.

One of your hands stayed cupping his face while the other tangled in his hair, trying to get him as close to you as possible; he moved onto his side and ran his free hand down your side to rest it on your hip, the other gently running through your hair as he propped himself up with his elbow. You slowly explored each other's mouths, moving on instinct as you sank further and further into the kiss; it wasn't long before you needed to take a breath, breaking the kiss with a gasp as Troy continued to plant kisses down your jawline and onto your neck, spending extra time at the places that made you squirm beneath him.

"Troy, wait," you gasped, trying to keep your wits about you.

"Hmm?" he hummed, continuing his attention on your neck but with far less fervour than before.

"We're in the middle of a field where everyone can see, Troy," you said, turning your head to the side slightly to make sure that no one was watching.

"So? I don't care if people see," he replied, moving back so he could look you in the eyes.

"Yeah, well the way this is going I don't exactly want my first time to be a public show," you admitted, blushing slightly at the implication of your words.

"Wait, you're a virgin?" Troy asked in disbelief, starting to move away even further from you before you grabbed onto his shirt so he wouldn't be able to.

"Yes, that doesn't mean stop altogether though," you replied, only releasing your grip on his shirt when he moved back to hovering directly above you, "I never had a chance _before_ the world went to shit, and _after_ I didn't meet anyone I'd even consider... I didn't meet anyone like you." You blushed even harder at that, looking away from him in embarrassment, Troy used his free hand to cup your face and gently turn your head back to look at him, surprised that he leaned down and kissed you tenderly before pulling away almost immediately after.

"I'm honoured," he whispered, "But I was only moving away so we could find somewhere more comfortable... and private."

"Well, we can't today," you said, "We have _no_ protection and if you think my goal during the apocalypse is to try and carry a baby to term and deliver it then you are sadly mistaken good sir."

"Alright, well then what would you like to do now?" he asked you, his eyes flicking down to your lips while the beginnings of a smirk appeared on his face.

"There's nothing stopping us from having _some_ fun is there?" you smirked as he grinned down at you, tangling your fingers in his hair as you pulled him down to meet his lips with yours.

 

* * *

 

Weeks ago, maybe months at this point, when all this started, you never could've imagined just how great your life was about to become. At least, as great as it can be during the apocalypse after almost everyone you know is dead.

The people on the Ranch looked past your past actions, realizing that you weren't a threat to them and that you were probably more useful fighting on their side; you didn't mind that they thought that way, that one of the main reasons they kept you around was because you were a better ally than a threat, you knew they were right after all.

You found that time really does heal all wounds, and slowly but surely you and Nick made amends, (the Clarks realized that you were probably the best thing that could've happened to Troy, and judging by the way you acted he seemed to be the best thing that's happened to you). Troy slowly proved himself to Madison and Alicia, and eventually to Nick as well, you're not sure they'd ever forgive him completely after everything he's done, but you were glad they could see that you were good for him.

Your friendship with Jake was unexpected, but after talking with him during a guard shift one night you discovered that the two of you had a lot in common; it certainly made things easier with everyone else, no matter what people thought of Troy, everyone liked and trusted Jake.

No one was really surprised when you asked to join their militia, neither you nor Troy was willing to let the other out of their sight it seemed, and on missions people were often perturbed by how in sync the two of you were; all the early mornings at the gun range together (though more often than not you were too distracted to use the guns) had enlightened the two of you to each other's strengths and weaknesses, you worked in such harmony that people started to wonder if there was anything about the other you didn't know.

After many months of people referring to you as 'common-law' you decided to make it official, Jake worked with Troy to help him melt down and make a ring, you've never taken it off of your finger and you never plan to. You had a ceremony with everyone at the Ranch, but the people most important to you were all in your wedding party, Madison walked you down the aisle, and Alicia was your Maid of Honour, Nick was even one of the groomsmen as Jake was obviously Troy's Best Man.

You still hope that this is all over at some point, but you also can't help but be somewhat thankful for everything you'd gone through, it made you the person that you are today; the more selfish part of you is just thankful that you met Troy, you know that if none of this had happened you probably never would've gone to the Ranch in your life.

You turn over in your bed to see your husband snoring softly next to you, the morning sun reminding you of the first time you had seen him shoot, you reached over to run your fingers through his hair like you had first done so long ago, smiling as he leaned into your touch. You weren't sure how long this would last, you never knew when everything would end, but for now you were happy; you kissed his cheek before going to make breakfast, revelling in the fact that you were waking up in your  _home._

 

**Author's Note:**

> So that's it! I hope you enjoyed it, please leave comments below and leave a kudos if you feel like it!


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